You Don't Always Need to Match the Hatch

This month, most of us can expect to finally start seeing mayflies and caddis hatching on our local trout waters. As one great writer noted, fly-fishing is the only sport that peaks at the beginning of the season and tapers off in intensity as the months go by. There are notable hatches in the summer and even the fall, but fly-fishing's World Series is in May.

For many anglers, hatching flies and rising trout signals the start of the game of "matching the hatch" - using flies as close to the real thing as possible, in terms of size, shape and color. It's become a very scientific business, with anglers using the Latin names of insects and tying or buying flies so realistic your wife would scream if she saw them on the kitchen counter. (In fact, many wives have.)

But in recent times, there's been something of a backlash. A growing number of fly-fishers are embracing simplicity and choosing general patterns, focusing on presentation instead of imitation. These anglers are convinced that they can catch all the fish they want with a Parachute Adams or a Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear. They don't carry a separate box for each life-stage of each insect. They change flies only as a last resort.

There's something to be said for keeping it simple. Recent articles and informal polls show the experts believe presentation to be far more important than imitation. A fly that's an exact replica of the Blue-Winged Olives on the water won't draw any strikes if it's dragging sideways across the current. A shaggy Usual, on the other hand, can take fish after fish, as long as it drifts perfectly naturally down the feeding lane.

There are exceptions - most notably rich, slow-flowing tailwaters with heavy hatches and wary, wild trout. These fish do indeed get used to feeding on particular insects, and don't seem to recognize "mis-match" flies as food. When wild browns and rainbows on the Delaware River in New York get keyed in on a hatch of size 18 sulfurs, you won't catch many - if any - on a size 12 Adams.

But on most rivers, a well-fished general pattern can perform as well as a direct imitation. Here are some tried-and-true flies that aren't wax museum replicas of the real things - but will put a bend in your rod, provided you stay out of sight, avoid splashing around and make sure to get good drifts:

Elk-Hair Caddis. Have some small (20), medium (16) and large (12) ones, including a few in black, and you're ready to fish anytime caddis are emerging or hopping around laying eggs. They'll work as stonefly imitations, too, and have been known to take trout even during mayfly hatches - after all, fresh mayflies' wings often lean way back.

Adams. The mixed brown and grizzly hackle suggests movement, the hackle-tip wings come into a trout's view just the way real mayfly wing tips do, and the gray body is a good compromise of the various shades of grays, olives and tans that real mayflies display. Have small, medium and large, and make sure you have some (or even all) in parachute style, as opposed to collar hackle.

Usual. A brilliant feat of minimalist fly design from the northern Adirondacks of New York in the 1940s, the Usual is made of only two things - snowshoe hare's foot fur and thread - and trout absolutely love it. It can be fished dead-drift as a dry fly, damp in the film as an emerger or swung and swam through the water as a wet fly. You can probably find them in lots of different colors, but the true spirit of the fly is to just use it in the original, natural tan.

Griffith's Gnat. Tie or buy them as tiny as you can and use them for all your midge work. Trout can be surprisingly selective on tiny midges, and some will probably refuse the Griffith's Gnat. But others won't be able to resist its peacock herl body and spiky hackle. Have some larger ones, too - 18 or 16. It's just plain buggy.

Light-Colored Comparadun or Sparkle Dun. There will be times when you need a light-colored dry fly. They are often the times when trout are fussiest, like those Delaware browns. Comparaduns and Sparkle Duns sit flush on the water, striking perhaps the most realistic pose of any dry fly style. Again, have them in small, medium and large, and you can cover sulfur hatches, Light Cahills, White Flies, etc. Also a great fly for those last few minutes before dark - both you and the fish can see it.

If you're a committed hatch-matcher, then by all means, match on. It's a grand game, and in some cases makes the difference between an average outing and the fishing of a lifetime. But if you find yourself intrigued by the New Simplicity, a small but well-chosen selection of proven patterns - combined with careful, thoughtful technique - can provide a memorable time on the water.